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Uncovering The Lost Storyreels: The Bad Batch

Man, it feels good to be blogging on some new TCW again! I’m bringing you today the first of my Uncovering The Lost Storyreels posts, talking about the fantastic opener The Bad Batch! I’m super-happy they decided to get these up when they did since I wasn’t at Celebration to see them first-hand. So now, join me as we dig deeper into this exciting opener for this thrilling storyarc! And just to note… I’ll do my very best to write this. Because of their unfinished quality, it’s sometimes hard to recognize character expressions and unfamiliar locations. If I screw up in any way, I apologize.NOTE: Contains spoilers from TCW episodes Counterattack and The Bad Batch (storyreel)

“The battles are over, but the heroes live on. Thank you Clone Wars fans.”… interesting choice of lesson for this one! Haha pff. Have to wonder what it would be if this had been fully-animated and had aired as a normal episode. Wonder who writes those incredibly insightful things anyway. I mean, that is seriously a talent to articulately and poetically point out what the heart of the episode is and then do it well over a hundred times! And every time without fail I nod my head and say “wow that is major deepsauce” or “so true, so true”. OK moving on…
So it’s a seemingly average battle going on. Anakin and Mace and the clones taking on Admiral Trench on Anaxes… you know, the usual. It hasn’t been going that well though. It’s definitely been one of those days where you just can’t win. And it happens to be that Captain Rex might just know why. He believes that the Seps got ahold of one of their strategy algorithms. And he also is considering the fact that his old Arc Trooper buddy Echo used it a lot… and it might’ve been on him when he didn’t make out of the Citadel. Anakin and Mace send out Rex and Cody and a small team to investigate and see if this is indeed the case. And Cody already knows who he’s gonna have join them… a little quartet called Clone Force 99 (Hehe I can’t believe I just called them a quartet. Anyone else kinda want to hear the bros sing? XD )
As Rex and Cody, along with Jesse and Kix, head out to meet up with the “Bad Batch”, these useful-mutation bros make quite a landing. I don’t exactly know who’s driving that ship but I have a feeling he’s had his license revoked a time or two. While their driving isn’t the most favorable, these dudes are pretty much some of the coolest human beings to grace the SW galaxy. Meet Hunter, the shadowy supertracker, Tech, the superintelligent supergeek, Crosshair, the quiet supershooter, and Wrecker, the gregarious supermuscle. They’re pretty super I would say 🙂 Clad in dark, specialized armor and far from the typical-looking clone, it’s no surprise Jesse and Kix exchange a look of disbelief. The Commander’s hung out with them before and knows them all well, so he’s totally cool with the batch. Wrecker made a lovely first impression by discussing how you kill a Yavik XD Hunter takes his comrade’s excitement all in stride, while Tech points out some useless fun facts about the critters. As for Crosshair… he just stands in the back of the crowd giving a less-than-friendly glare. You don’t need much extra animation to get that fact across. So introductions out of the way, our team boards the gunship… right after Wrecker throws a friendly (though probably painful) jab at one of the younger bros XD I don’t want to play favorites, but I’m kinda attached to Wrecker… his enthusiasm is contagious!
So as they were flying off, the gunship was filled with some major awkward silence. It’s got to be a tad unnerving if you’re a clone and find out you have four “brothers” who look nothing like you, who also rock long hair, pale skin, thin faces, and a blind eye, respectively. Especially when one of them is still shooting a deathly glare (I’m lookin’ at you Crosshair). And the feeling’s mutual for the Bad Batch boys, too, as they don’t typically hang out with “regs”. Anyone wanna bet these guys make fun of normal clones in their spare time? They won’t admit it to anyone, and probably never do it when Cody’s around but yeah wouldn’t surprise me… “Ooh look! I’m a normal clone! I follow protocol! Haha!” Cody interrupts the awkward conversation to fill in his team on the mission at hand: a Separatist cybercenter on Anaxes is where they will find out if the bad guys snapped up their intel. But what they don’t realize is that a battle droid or two or three has taken notice of the gunship… and they brought alllllll their little Seppie droid friends! Yeahhh our team doesn’t stay airborne for very long after that. Just thinking of being caught in that crash makes me queasy. The rest of the bros are OK, but Cody’s caught in the rubble. But before the rest of the clones try their hands at freeing the commander, Hunter sends in Wrecker. And Wrecker totally has no problem whatsoever LIFTING THE GUNSHIP and THROWING IT ASIDE to rescue him. Have to say, that shot of Wrecker carrying Cody as the gunship explodes in the background it pretty darn epic. Yay Wrecker! Cody’s alive, but not doing too well. Kix can help him, but Crosshair eloquently points out that the battle droids are coming over for a visit. ALL the battle droids. But the Bad Batch crew isn’t worried. They grab the decimated gunship’s door as a shield and BRING THE HEAT! They move like a force of nature as Wrecker holds their shield, letting the rest of the bros shoot through the slots in the door. Tech calculates just the right trajectory to aim a droid popper, and Hunter blasts it like a boss, knocking those droids down like dominoes! Hunter pulls out a knife on the unsuspecting droids, tearing them apart. Wrecker slams a droid with the door still in hand, causing it to incinerate itself. And just like that, the field’s nothing but a Seppie droid burial ground. Color the “regs” impressed! And ermagosh Wrecker messing around with that droid head! *Dies laughing* I’m pretty sure Wrecker’s the only one who can make fun of Crosshair and not get killed for it XD With that, our clones head out, leaving all those destroyed droids in their wake. A handful of Sep droids arrive later, and they, along with Admiral Trench, are confused, yet intrigued by all this Jedi-less, no-lightsabers-necessary damage. The droids also head out, in search of these mysterious troopers.
Elsewhere, we find our heroes taking a short breather as Hunter uses his epic heightened senses to point into the direction of the cybercenter. Probably means he overheard Kix and Jesse doing a little poking at him, too. But if he did, he doesn’t show it. Hunter’s too cool to stoop to the level of a couple of “regs” 😛 Knowing that Cody’s no longer in any condition to continue the mission with them, Rex is in charge and he’s got a new plan. But it seems Crosshair don’t like that plan. And Jesse don’t like his ‘tude. And Wrecker just likes grabbing Jesse by the neck. Hunter’s the only one who could stop the clone kerfuffle from actually kerfuffling (whee fun with vocabulary!), reminding them of the fact they’re all on the same team. And continuing in his keeping of the peace, he agrees to give Rex’s plan a try. So with that settled, the clones head back out once more, stalking stealthily through the forest. In the midst of their stealthy stalking, they find themselves looking on a Sep outpost covered in battle droids. Rex decides he’d like to do this one the Bad Batch way 🙂 And there they went, blasting and knife-slashing away the little skinny metal boogers. While the rest of the team jumps aboard a turbolift, it seems Wrecker rather’d stay around and continue making the battle droids eat laser 🙂 Yes the rest of boys make quick work on the droids upstairs. Watto would go nuts over all the scrap metal they make in a day’s time! 😀 Though clearly Wrecker is disappointed he missed the party. I’m pretty sure Wrecker is to battle droids the way Zeb is to stormtroopers 🙂 But just their luck, the cybercenter is only a hop, skip, and a jump away! The only problem? Those droids who took notice of the carnage from earlier are on their way there. Psh this is not a problem for this awesome crew. Those droids didn’t see it coming worth beans. Though admittedly a certain Admiral might have an idea…
“An attack is coming?! Whe–” *blasts*
Pfff gotta love the delightful cluelessness of those battle droids, right? XD Yeah doesn’t take the rest of the clones long to get the rest of the droids away from the back door, where the rest of the Bad Batch lies in wait. Wrecker basically kicked down the door and wrenched it open with his hands. So I’m guessing he always ate his veggies at the cloning facility dinner table? Ahhh how do these clones manage being so awesome without exploding from so much awesomeness?! I’m thinking they just did the fastest break-in/droid-decimate run ever. Wrecker and Hunter leave Tech to work his magic on the computers while they get ahold of their reg bros. And then along comes a Sep transport with lots and lots of super battle droids. Jesse and the Batch boys handle them while Rex joins up with Tech to see what they came here for. After a few minutes of typing about, Tech finds that the algorithm’s coming from a live signal on Skako Minor. What could that mean, I wonder?? Rex and Tech don’t have a clue… yet. But as the battle heats up outside with the boys, the signal starts to reveal its source… someone Rex can hardly believe. Hunter, Wrecker, Crosshair, and Jesse are starting to get overrun and make a dash back into the center. And now… Rex is hearing the voice of… ECHO. Ohmaigersh. The crew’s gotta make a run for it, and while Rex does… he can’t help but linger a bit, for the possibility that this awesome, noble Arc Trooper might still be living and breathing. Our bros board their old Separatist transport without any problem and jet on outta there. The Seps don’t quite get what their game is, but for sure this won’t be the last time these particular bad guys tangle with the troopers. But all the same, Rex can’t shake the voice he heard, and the number he read… and he’s gonna find out the truth no matter what.
So yeah I know I’m a little rusty at this closer-look-writing but EEEEEEEEEEEEEEE I’M SO EXCITEDDDDDDDD TO SEE WHERE THESE EPISODES GO!!! That is all.

Oh, also, Happy Star Wars Day in advance! Next week I’ll tell you how it went for me! 😀